Sports Medicine Salary

As a sports medicine physician, your salary can be greatly affected by a number of factors, such as how long you've been in the field and where you work. Keep reading to find out more about what you can earn in this profession. Schools offering .

Salary Overview

According to PayScale.com, if you're a sports medicine physician, you would have earned a median annual salary of $151, 571 as of May 2014. The same source also reported salary figures by percentile, which demonstrated possible variations in income. According to those numbers, the bottom-paid 10% of sports medicine physicians earned $39, 866 or less, while the top-paid 10% earned $259, 815 or more. A number of factors can affect your salary as a sports medicine physician. Three of the most common include years of experience, location and type or employer.

Salary by Experience

The number of years you've worked as a sports medicine physician can affect your income. For example, according to in May 2014, sports medicine doctors at the entry level earned 3% less than the national average of $162, 000, while mid-career physicians earned 1% less than the average. In contract, experienced sports medicine physicians earned 4% more than the national average, as of 2014.

Salary by Location

The BLS categorizes sports medicine physicians in the 'all other physicians' category. As of May 2013, doctors in this category earned the highest average salaries in the states of Mississippi, South Dakota, Montana, Minnesota and Idaho. Mississippi was the top-paying state overall, offering an average annual wage of $240, 510. The lowest paying states, which included New York, Nebraska and Alaska, paid salaries from $124, 950-$170, 710 to doctors such as sports medicine physicians, per the BLS.

Salary by Employer Type

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides salary data by industry for doctors in the 'all other physicians' category, including sports medicine physicians. As of May 2013, the top-paying industries included offices of physicians and medical and diagnostic laboratories. Offices of physicians offered an average salary of $218, 860, and laboratories paid $229, 610 annually, on average. General medical and surgical hospitals, though one of the top employers of physicians, paid a comparatively lower average salary of $143, 660 as of 2013.

Salary Information for Orthopedic Surgeons

Like sports medicine physicians, orthopedic surgeons may attend to sports-related injuries. However, these are distinct career paths since, as an orthopedic surgeon, you also would treat a number of other conditions associated with the musculoskeletal system. According to , as of May 2014, orthopedic surgeons earned a median annual salary of $295, 889. That same month, the bottom-paid 10% of orthopedic surgeons earned $119, 060 or less, while the top-paid 10% brought home $554, 109 or more.

Job Outlook

According to the BLS, there will be good job prospects for physicians and surgeons as a whole over the 2012-2022 decade. Healthcare expansion and population growth both are expected to be factors that influence the fast 18% employment growth over that decade.